Most modern electronic equipment utilizes printed wiring boards, or, as they are more commonly called, printed circuit boards. These boards are formed from electrically insulating material and have the desired circuitry in the form of electrically conductive paths printed thereon. There are basically two commonly employed techniques for mounting electrical components upon these boards. One technique involves inserting the electrical contacts of a device through apertures in the board and soldering the contacts in place. This procedure is simple and cost effective but has the disadvantage of the difficulty of replacing defective components. The second technique involves the intermediary of a socket, which is a device formed of an electrically insulating material which carries a plurality of receptacles for receiving the contacts of a component. The terminal pins of the socket are soldered in place on the printed circuit board. This system has the advantage that the component is easily replaced by unplugging a defective unit and plugging in a new one. The disadvantages lie in the facts that it is expensive to make the socket in the first place and that if the contact configuration of the component be changed, then a new (and expensive) socket is required.
Most of these objectionable features have been obviated by the provisions of socket receptacles which are inserted into plated-through holes in the printed circuit boards. The holes are provided in a desired pattern in the board to receive a component directly, thus eliminating the need for a separate and distinct socket.
Such an approach is described in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 659,152, filed Oct. 9, 1984 and assigned to the assignee of the instant invention. The miniature socket receptacles described therein are constructed from material only 0.0055" thick and have an overall length of approximatly 0.080". Generally, these receptacles have a flexible, hollow body with a circumferential extent of greater than 180.degree. but less than 360.degree.. The body has a proximal portion with a given external diameter and a distal portion having an internal diameter less than the given diameter. The distal portion is formed to provide at least three legs. These legs are highly stressed so that adequate electrical contact can be made to the male pin inserted therein. While these receptacles function adequately when all goes well, problems are occassionally encountered. For example, when a male pin of maximum size is inserted into the receptacle, the legs are necessarily stressed to near the elastic limit of the receptacle material. If, at this point, a force is accidentally applied in a direction transverse to the direction of pin insertion (i.e., along the longitudinal axis of the receptacle) then one or more of the legs may be damaged. Unfortunately, such forces are quite often generated during the insertion or withdrawal of electronic devices which use an array of many such receptacles.